Antibiotic prophylaxis habits in dental implant surgery among dentists in Spain. A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: The use of antibiotics to prevent dental implant failures and postoperative infections remains a controversial issue. The objectives of this study were to assess the current antibiotic prescribing patterns and antibiotic prescribing frequency of dentists in Biscay (Spain) in conjunction with routine dental implant surgery among healthy patients and to determine whether any consensus has been reached by such practitioners and last published evidence was being followed. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Observational cross-sectional study: electronic survey. This study was reported according to the STROBE guidelines. This anonymous questionnaire contained open-ended and close-ended questions. An email was sent 26 October 2017 to all the registered members of the Biscay dentists’ College (n=989). The collected data were analyzed using STATA® 14 software, and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to assess the frequency of prescription for each antibiotic regimen. RESULTS: The survey was responded to by a total of 233 participants (response rate=23.56%). Overall, 210 participants finished the survey completely, and 23 surveys were answered partially. The questionnaire was responded to by 122 females (58.1%) and 88 males (41.9%). Of the participants, 88% (n=207) always routinely prescribed prophylactic antibiotics in conjunction with dental implant surgery (95% CI: 84.79-92.88%). Approximately 9% (n=22) prescribed antibiotics sometimes (95% CI: 5.68-13.19%), and only 4 dentists (1.72%) never prescribed antibiotics (95% CI: 0.04-3.38%). Overall, 179 of 233 respondents prescribed both pre- and postoperative antibiotics (78.85%, 95% CI: 72.96-83.97%), 13 prescribed antibiotics only preoperatively (5.73%, 95% CI: 3.08-9.59%), and 35 prescribed antibiotics exclusively after routine dental implant surgery (15.42%, 95% CI: 10.98-20.78%). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the dentists working in Biscay routinely prescribe prophylactic antibiotics in conjunction with dental implant surgery among healthy patients. A large range of prophylactic regimens are prescribed and the most recently published evidence is not being followed. Key words:Clinical decision making, epidemiology, infection control, dental implants, antibiotics.